


Saving Face

by axolotlnerd-campcamp (axolotlNerd)



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Dadvid Appreciation Week, Dadvid Appreciation Week 2018, Gen, How Do I Tag, Max's camp, NOT MAX/VID
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-06 02:08:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16379372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axolotlNerd/pseuds/axolotlnerd-campcamp
Summary: David and Gwen had entirely forgotten that they made the activity lists before the summer had even started. When the calendar says that it’s time for Max’s camp activity, David struggles to find something that Max enjoys, while Max hides the truth about his camp to his friends.





	Saving Face

_ David’s acting fucking weird. _

Max watched his camp counselor intently as he looked over a small stack of papers, a worried expression on his face. He had barely touched his breakfast, and occasionally let out a sound almost like a whimper.

The last time he was acting like this, Max had assumed he’d killed someone.

“ _ David’s  _ acting weird again.” He said the name with a sneer, nothing unusual, and his friends beside him noticed.

“I’m sure it’s nothing.” Neil replied, poking at his food; it was some excuse for a pancake, probably just flour and water mixed together and cooked. “Maybe he’s worried about today’s activities?”

“No, this is different. He doesn’t whine when he’s nervous about activities. He doesn’t worry about activities.” He glared at his counselor, trying to see what he was looking at that made him so anxious. “Something happened.”

“We should ask! Maybe there was a mysterious monster in the forest, and we’ll have to hunt it down. Maybe it’s the Sasquatch!” Nikki offered to the conversation. “You gonna eat that?”

Max slid his tray over to her. “There’s no monster, the sasquatch was just the homeless guy from town.” He said, unentertained and looking over to Neil.

“Maybe we should just ask him?” Neil offered. “He’s coming over here now.”

Max whipped around, and David had come over with his nervous expression and hesitant steps. “Can Gwen and I talk to you for a second, Max?”

Max glared at David once again, scanning him. “Sure.”

“In private?” David asked, his voice a touch quieter, as if it were a secret.

Max rolled his eyes, getting off his seat and began to follow David out of the mess hall.

 

Gwen was looking through a folder, leaning on the outside wall of the building. When David and Max came out, she looked up quickly, pulled out of her thoughts. David offered a smile, but it did nothing to cheer up the woman in front of him.

“Alright,” Max started. “What the hell is going on?  _ You’ve _ been acting like it’s the end of the world, and I haven’t seen  _ you _ all fucking morning!” He said, pointing to David and Gwen respectively. He glared again, squaring his shoulders and taking his hands out of his pockets. “And stop looking at me like that!”

“Like what?” David asked, confused by the sudden outburst.

Max just gestured to his face. “ _ That _ !”

Gwen sighed and interrupted. “Max,” She said, interjecting his thought. “It’s about today’s activity. We made the schedule before the summer started, and pulled kids’ names at random.” Max put his hands back in his pockets, already knowing what Gwen was going to say. “Your name was pulled for today.”

“We wanted to ask what you wanted to do!” David burst out, looking nervous still. “We just figured that, since you didn’t have one, we’d let you choose. And, who knows, maybe you’ll find something you really like and end up-”

“Fat chance.” Max said harshly. “You think I’ll find something I like  _ now? _ Haven’t we tried every fucking activity here already? Just make something up! I don’t care!”

David sighed, looking at Gwen for a moment. “Well, there are still plenty of camps that we haven’t done yet, and I even have a few ideas I’ve been meaning to try-”

“David.” Max interrupted. “I don’t care.”

With that, he turned around, walking back into the mess hall with a frown and a stern look on his face.

 

“Astrology camp?”

The campers looked at David with confused glances. Some had seemed at least mildly interested in ‘test camp day’, but now all of them were clearly skeptical.

“Isn’t that just space camp?” Nikki asked, a smile on her face.

“Not at all!” David began, picking up a stick of chalk and pointing to a diagram with doodles of various animals and symbols. “You’re thinking of  _ astronomy —  _ the study of stars and galaxies!  _ Astrology _ is completely different. It looks at the position of stars and the planets and interprets how they affect us and what we do here on planet earth!”

Nikki still looked confused. 

“It’s a whole bunch of pseudo-science.” Neil explained, to which Nikki nodded and smiled.

“Ooooh, like chakras! Can I open my third eye first?!”

The kids began to chat with each other, and David waved his hand to get their attention. “Alright everyone, please settle down!” The kids did nothing to stop chatting.

“ _ Astrology camp is starting, shut up! _ ” Gwen piped up from her side of the blackboard, and the kids fell silent.

“Thanks, Gwen. Okay, so does anyone here know their  _ star sign? _ ”

Max raised his hand.

“Yes! Max?”

“Astrology is a convenient way to excuse shitty behaviour and say that’s just how you are, and the fact that some people are put into boxes of ‘evil’ or ‘two sided’ is just a way for middle aged white women to start rivalries with other women they hate. Not to mention the fact that doing star charts for people like Hitler or Bob Marley only gives them so-called grounds for their weird and made-up biases.”

The room was silent for a moment.

“So you’re a scorpio?” Gwen asked.

Max glared with a volatile suspicion. “Yes.”

David wrote on the blackboard, writing the kid’s name arrow pointing to the small scorpion doodle. “Scorpios are known for their intensity, and can be a bit secretive. Their ruling planet — the planet that matches with the specific sign — is Pluto! Anyone else? We can find out using your birthday!”

“Oh, oh, pick me! Pick me!” Nikki chanted as she jumped up and down from her spot in the semi-circle of kids. “My birthday is exactly eight days from now!”

“You’re a Leo!” David wrote Nikki’s name next to the lion symbol. “They tend to be very passionate about the things, and people, they love, and are very courageous, honest, and most importantly, kind! Their ruling planet is the sun!”

“Hold on one fucking second!” Neil interrupted. “The sun’s not even a planet!”

Max looked past everything that was happening as David and Neil talked back and forth, and when they stopped, he looked over to his brainiac friend. “That’s it, I’m officially bored with this.”

“Why are we even doing this? Don’t we have a whole schedule of activities? Did they just skip someone’s camp?” Neil asked in response, hating the activity just as much, if not more than, Max.

“I have a plan, make sure David’s distracted.” Max dodged the question easily, and Neil just agreed and Max snuck off.

David had just asked Nurf his birthday, and was elaborating on Aries traits. “Aries are unstoppable forces, and very confident of themselves, they can have very fiery attitudes, which can lead to compulsiveness, but are generally very-”

The crackling and sparking of fire caught David’s attention, and he looked back to the blackboard to see it was not up in flames. Max darted back to his seat on the floor next to Neil, hands in his pockets and a smug smile on his face.

David sighed. “I’ll get water.”

 

“Mock trial camp!” Preston shouted as he paced the backstage. “This is so exciting! The  **drama** ! The  _ action _ ! The  _ gasp of surprise _ as onlookers realize the defendant was  **_oh-so masterfully framed_ ** !”

“I don’t think this what a mock trial actually is, Preston.” Neil stressed. “What am I even supposed to be?” He touched his outfit, a burlap sack with the word ‘flour’ written on it in sharpie for a shirt and jeans a size too big.

“You are the humble farmer that lives on the edge of town, who found the victim’s body in your corn fields. And you better not pass out this time! This could be my ticket to fame, and you better not-”

“Jesus Christ, Preston,” Max barked. “Don’t you have other people to harass? Or coach? Or whatever?”

Preston huffed and stomped away.

“Is everything okay?” Neil asked, concerned with his friend’s attitude. “That was a bit… Harsher than normal. Did something happen when you talked with David today?”

“Nope. S’all good.” Max said, once again trying to avoid the question.

“Ooooh, I really like my role in this one!” Nikki said, suddenly next to Neil. “The murderer, trying to atone for her crimes! It’s perfect!”

“You’re not the murderer,” Neil said factually. “That’s the whole twist. And you’re not atoning for your crimes, you're trying to prove yourself innocent.”

Nikki put her hands on her hips and stood tall. “You’re just grumpy because you’re the stinky farm boy!”

“I am not!”

“ _ Stinky _ !” Nikki yelled before running off.

“Max! Your cue’s coming up!” Preston whisper-yelled to Max, and he rolled his eyes and walked onto the stage.

Space Kid spoke from the Judge’s stand. “The prosecution calls, uh… Mister Bar-old?”

“Please, call me James. Mister Barrold was my father.” Max said with a smug smile as he walked up to the witness’ stand. Harrison fiddled with his gloves, unsure of his role in the play.

“James,” He said, clearly having gone over the line many times before this. “I’ve been told you knew the victim well.”

“Sure. What’s it mean to you?”

“Um…” Harrison was thrown off by Max’s ad-lib additions to the script. “Well, could you please describe the victim’s relationship to the accused?”

“They were dating. The guy was pretty crazy ‘bout her. He told me in confidence that he wanted to put a ring on it, but she wasn’t all that enthusiastic.”

Harrison feigned a pensive expression, trying to keep in character. “I see… And what do you think of the accused?”

“She’s a nice gal. I told her to leave the relationship if she wasn’t into it, but she didn’t listen. Guess she just snapped.” Max spoke unenthusiastically.

“Objection!” Nerris yelled, crisp and confident. She, unlike Harrison, was in her element in this role. “You’re accusing her!”

“Ummm…” Space Kid looked up, trying to remember his line. “Sus-sustained! I think.” He whispered the last phrase.

Max shrugged. “Sorry.”

“Did the accused ever seem desperate to get out of the relationship?”

“Nope.”

“N-never?” Harrison was thrown off again, Max completely throwing his line.

“I killed him.” He jumped out of the witness’ stand as smoke began to rise from it. “You’ll never catch me!”

Harrison, Nerris, and Space Kid all panicked as it caught fire, running off the stage in different directions.

David sighed from his spot on the benches, standing up to grab more water for the new fire.

 

They tried more, every camp David had written down over these past two months. Everything from Ancient Mythology Camp to Zip Lining Camp had managed to end flames, quite literally.

Gwen took the kids inside for a late dinner as David made a bonfire — after everything that had happened today, both he and the kids could use a moment of peace around the fire.

The kindling lit, and the crackle of the fire began for what must have been the tenth time that day. At the same time, David heard footsteps behind him, and he turned expecting to see Gwen.

Instead, Max was walking over with his hands in his pockets, looking at the ground. “Oh, Max!” David said, surprised to see the sullen kid outside of the mess hall. He stayed silent, sitting down on a log next to the starting fire. “Is everything okay?”

“ _ It’s fine! _ ” Max snapped, glaring at David for a moment and then looking back at the ground. David was silent with surprise. “ _ Everyone _ ’s been asking that. Even  _ Nurf _ .”

David sat down next to Max, speaking genuinely. “They just ask because they’re concerned and want to make sure you’re okay.”

“No they don’t, they say it because it’s polite and that’s what you’re supposed to do when someone you’ve been stuck with for two months is acting different.”

David was speechless for a moment. “Well, I don’t believe that for a second. Nikki and Neil care about you, along with Space Kid. Why’d you come out here anyways?”

“Nikki asked what camp I joined.”

David nodded, trying to convey that he understood why Max had wanted to leave the situation. “It’s not too late, you know.” He said. “You could still join any camp you wanted. And there’s one more I’ve been meaning to try.” 

Max glanced at him from the corner of his eye, a little curious.

“Here, I’ll be right back.” David said as he stood up, heading towards the counselor's cabin. “And please don’t set anything on fire while I’m gone!”

“You already did!” He called back jokingly.

When David returned, he carried his guitar in one hand and another smaller instrument in the other. “Here.” He said, handing the small thing to Max. “It’s my ukulele, I was going to teach you guitar, but it’s pretty big. I don’t play it too often so it might be a bit out of tune, but do you want to give it a shot?”

Max looked at the small instrument for a moment, thinking. “Fine.”

 

“Welcome to Music Camp, kids!” David said enthusiastically as Gwen led the kids to the fire.

Neil rolled his eyes. He was tired of the new camps, tired of having to do so many different things all day. He wished they would all just go back to their tents to sleep now.

“Max?!” Nikki gasped, and Neil looked where she was looking.

The cynical kid was laid down on the grass behind the log David was sitting on, holding his ukulele and strumming the same three chords repeatedly while looking at the sky. Neil and Nikki raced over, sitting down next to him on the grass.

“Who are you? What did they do to the real Max?” Nikki laughed, speaking quickly. Max didn’t even look at her, his gaze focussed on the sky.

“What did David have to bribe you with to get you to participate in something?” Neil asked. 

Max shrugged. “This is my camp.” He said simply, and continued to play his three chords. David offered to teach everyone to play something on guitar, and the kids clamored for a chance to play it. He passed it to Ered, who said she’d played electric guitar before and wanted to try acoustic.

“Everything alright?” Gwen asked, sitting down next to David. She had a small smile on her face, looking tired but content.

“You know what?” David said, sitting up straight with a wide smile. “Everything is great. Today was a total success, if you ask me, and I just think everything’s gonna turn out great, you know?”

Gwen sighed, looking to the fire and listening to the kids try to sing. “Yeah. I think so, too.”

Max closed his eyes, the image of the stars still reflected in them. He couldn’t help but believe it, and to himself, spoke. 

 

_ Everything’s gonna be okay. _

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Sorry my other stories haven't gotten updated, I'm working on it, I swear! I don't have a story for every day of DAW but I have about three, I can't wait to post them!
> 
> Hope this week is good for you all!


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